The current stage of Research Infrastructures (RIs) development is characterised by an increasing demand to reasonably justify the public investments in Research and Innovation (especially for large-scale facility projects) and to align them with long-term societal challenges by clearly demonstrating the value added to society and the economy.
DESY came up with its 4th generation synchrotron radiation source project PETRA IV (an upgrade of PETRA III, 3rd generation synchrotron radiation source), which looks to be a user facility serving the international photon science community across different scientific domains. Since PETRA IV project is still in its development phase, there is a need to provide solid argumentations for its relevance and contribution to addressing grand societal challenges and technological trends for the next 10-15 years by vividly showcasing its beamline portfolio to all interested and potential stakeholders.
This study aimed to identify and assess the grand societal and technological challenges for the coming 10-15 years in the 5 major fields of interest for PETRA IV potential application areas: energy, life and health, earth and environment, transport, and quantum materials for information technology (or new technologies). The study comprised three main activities: (1) desk research analysing relevant documents on societal challenges and technological trends; (2) experts’ assessment via FIBRES platform, ranking and commenting on different technological trends; and (3) reporting and mapping key societal challenges and technological trends of interest for PETRA IV.
